In just six seasons at the helm, Dawn Staley is well on her way to shaping the Temple women's basketball program in the national powerhouse that she promised when taking over on April 12, 2000.  She was named 2004 and 2005 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and 2005 Regional Coach of the Year. She has led the Owls to their first-ever A-10 Tournament titles (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006), four NCAA appearances since 2002, and a first-ever Top 25 National Ranking.

All of these accomplishments occurred while Staley maintained her highly publicized "summer job" as an All-Star player for the WNBA's Charlotte Sting and Houston Comets. She retired from WNBA competition following the 2006 season, but not before leaving quite a legacy in the 10-year league. During the 2006 season, she was voted an All-Star for the fifth time, becoming the first player in WNBA history to play for both the East and West squads. She also edged Katie Douglas, 17-16, to win the WNBA's first-ever Three Point Challenge. Staley was also honored as a member of the WNBA's All-Decade team.
 
In the summer of 2004 she captured her third Olympic Gold Medal, playing for team USA in the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece and was selected as the United States flag bearer for the opening ceremonies.  After leading the U.S. to a perfect 8-0 record, Staley earned her second USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year Award. 
  
From 1992 to 1994, Staley played with a number of professional teams in France, Italy, Brazil and Spain. In 1994, she returned to American soil and competed for USA Basketball in the Goodwill games and the World Championships. That year, Staley was named USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. In 1996, Staley guided the historic USA Basketball Women's team that compiled a perfect 60-0 record and captured the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Staley began her storied basketball career at Dobbins Tech High School (1986-89) in Philadelphia where she was named USA Today's National High School Player of the Year and led Dobbins to three straight Philadelphia Public League championships. She was a three-time Kodak All-American while starring at the University of Virginia (1989-92). She helped UVA to a 110-21 record and four appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Three of those trips led to Final Four appearances in 1990, 1991 and 1992, and in 1991 the Cavaliers were the national runners-up. She is ranked sixth all-time on the NCAA's career steals list with 454 and was named the National Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992. In addition, she was the ACC Conference Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992 and the Rookie of the Year in 1989.  She is the only player, male or female, in ACC history to tally more than 2,000 points, 700 rebounds, 700 assists and 400 steals, and was just the second person in Conference history to record a triple-double, a feat she did twice.  To commemorate 25 years of Division 1 basketball, ESPN.com voted Staley as one of the "Top Players of the Past 25 Years."

She now has an award named in her honor. Beginning this year, the WNBA will annually present the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award to the player who best exemplifies the characteristics of a leader in the community in which she works or lives. In 2005, Staley was awarded with Philadelphia's prestigious Wanamaker Award, presented annually to the "athlete, team or organization that has done the most to reflect credit upon Philadelphia and to the team or sport in which they excel."  This was the second Wanamaker Award for Staley, who is the only individual woman to ever win the award. She also took home the honor in 1997 and joins Joe Frazier ('68, '71) and Steve Carlton ('73, '83) as the only two-time individual winners of the award. She is also a two-time winner of the WNBA's Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award.    

After retiring from Olympic competition following the 2004 Games, Staley continues to be involved with USA Basketball. In May of 2005, Staley was elected by a vote of USA Basketball's current athletes as an athlete representative on the USA Basketball Executive Committee. She will serve a three-year term alongside former USA Men's Pan American Games silver medallist Scott Paddock. In February of 2006, Staley was selected as an assistant coach for the 2006 USA Women's World Championship Team, headed by former Olympian and the WNBA's Seattle Storm Head Coach Anne Donovan.  Staley coached the squad to a bronze medal alongside Duke Head Coach Gail Goestenkors and the WNBA's Connecticut Sun Head Coach Mike Thibault at the 2006 FIBA World Championships held in Sao Paulo Brazil. 

During the summer of 2000, Staley was quite busy as she played another season for the Charlotte Sting and was a member of the first Women's "Dream Team," a collection of women's professional players that represented the United States in the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Despite those commitments she still found time to head the Dawn Staley Foundation, which is aimed at giving inner-city children positive input. The foundation sponsors after-school programs, a three-hour focus on academics and athletics at the Hank Gathers Recreation Center, as well as summer leagues and fund-raising activities. She was awarded the 1999 WNBA Entrepreneurial Spirit Award for her work with the Foundation.

In addition to the philanthropic work that Staley does with her Foundation, she is also heavily involved in the WNBA's "Be Fit, Be Smart, Be Yourself" program, which is designed to educate teens and women about the risks and dangers of obesity and inactivity and to answer questions about healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices. The program seeks to raise self-esteem and confidence among teens.  The Philadelphia native has also taken a role in promoting women's health, acting as a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and Health Partners.